As the video disc was ejected from the laptop, the partners were deathly silent. Lisbon stared in pained shock as Jane shattered the plastic mockery between his fingers, looking back at his partner with frustrated confirmation of what they'd just seen.

Lorelei had managed to speak from the grave, leaving Lisbon at a loss and leaving Jane visibly shaken. Red John had mocked their investigation, correctly guessing the seven names on Patrick's list of suspects via Gottleib's recently delivered video message. Teresa had never seen him like this… not since his arrival at the CBI anyway: so lost… trying to hide his fear and uncertainty but failing to do so. His current state scared her - both for his sanity and for their collective safety. It seemed that the entire world was crumbling around them; and no one understood the danger - not completely - except for her and Jane.

Lisbon had already felt like she couldn't breathe after their eerie conversation with Sean Barlow. She was a woman of faith, but evil seemed to be teeming and lurking everywhere she and her consultant looked.

Meanwhile, Jane was angry and deflated at having been outflanked by the bastard Red John once again. Maybe it was true what Sean had said; maybe the manipulative murderer had powers? The consultant thought hard, despite his turmoil. What was he missing? Patrick's furrowed brow of concentration and irritation about the latest message from his arch enemy was accompanied by bitter regret; now he had dragged Lisbon into his vengeance - and all the peril that came with that. If anything were to happen to her, he would be lost. He'd most likely just end it.

The two expressed all these thoughts and more, wordlessly, through a desperately intense gaze that didn't break contact for the longest time.

"What does it mean?" She finally asked, eyes full of heartbreak for him, and fear for both of them.

"Red John is much more powerful than I ever imagined... I'm so sorry Lisbon. I despise myself for bringing you into this." Jane looked close to tears.

Teresa's unsettled heart went out to her partner; and there was no way she was going to let him put all of the blame on himself, despite how on-brand that was for the man: "Knock it off, Jane. We both know you tried to warn me. But I kept insisting until I wore you down. Besides, I'm a cop and pursuing killers is my job - you no more brought me into this than you caused the deaths of your family. So please don't add my involvement here to your self-imposed guilt. This is on me!" God, he looked more rattled than she'd thought was possible for him. Teresa had not wanted to save someone this badly since she was a child, raising her battered brothers. She desperately wanted to heal her gorgeous, big-hearted, 'better than he thought he was' partner.

The sum of fear in Jane's attic space was overwhelming in that moment. The whole world was tumbling. Stars seemed to be falling in through the filthy windows as the end neared. The two partners continued to seek answers in each other's eyes, as they struggled for words.

After a time, Lisbon stepped closer to Jane, pulling him into a strong embrace; feeling that he was the only solid ground she could balance herself on. None of the others knew what she and Patrick knew. There was no doubt in her mind that her partnership with this mentalist was more deeply rooted now than ever. Us against the world.

Patrick was raging against his heart. He was more fragile than he'd been since the day they'd met, and he was desperate to allow himself to find comfort in Teresa. Besides, what if tonight was all they had? Her eyes told him that she needed the comfort as much as he did. He'd dragged her into this mess; didn't he owe it to her to provide the comfort she needed tonight? Especially if the world was going to end tomorrow anyhow?

Before he could make a decision on the matter, Lisbon surprised him by amplifying her embrace; her lips meeting his, massaging his silver tongue with wild abandon. When she came up for air, he pulled back slightly.

"Teresa? Are you alright, my dear?"

"Am I alright?!" Lisbon let go and nervously began to pace. "In the past forty-eight hours I've been creeped out by an old man who seemed authentically clairvoyant AND I've watched as Red John managed to petrify you, my consistently unflappable partner, with his latest trick. I am most definitely NOT alright!"

"But… you kissed me?"

"Oh. That."

"Yes, that." Jane didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He thought his favorite agent's embarrassment and awkward jitters were so very 'Lisbon' it was almost heartwarming. But she really had been shaken by recent events. Maybe she hadn't even realized what she was doing when she attacked him with affection? He looked into the night to gather his thoughts.

Lisbon was uncomfortable, and unsure what it meant that her partner was staring out the window in response to her attempt to kiss away his pain. "I'm sorry Jane. It's just that this whole case has me unsteady to begin with, and now this video from Red John? And watching the effect it has on you? Yes, I'm petrified, too, but you don't deserve this. I hate seeing you so out of sorts, Patrick."

He snapped his eyes back to her. "You called me Patrick." He wore a stunned smile.

"Yes, I… I'm sorry Jane it's just that… Dammit Jane…" Teresa was even more flustered.

That was it; he couldn't stand it. If the world was ending, he had to come clean while he still had the chance. Sean had been right with his accusations about being secretive and controlling. Lisbon deserved better than that.

Jane stepped closer, eyes full of sincerity: "There's no need to be sorry, Teresa. As close as we've become, it's really a crime we haven't been on a first name basis already. I've been asking you to call me 'Patrick' for years, and it brings me great joy to finally hear that name on your lips, my dear." He gleamed.

Lisbon smiled appreciatively, then got serious again. "Patrick, what are we going to do? How did he know?"

"I don't know."

"What's your plan?"

"I haven't got one. Not yet anyway. I can barely think I'm so angry about this trick he's managed - I hate being played. It always causes my head to spin when I've been made a fool… I'm stuck wondering what I missed that made it possible… what was I thinking when…" the strategist trailed off into silent, troubled thought.

Despite her amazed gratitude for the open honesty Jane had just entrusted, Lisbon was not the least bit comforted by the look of depression and dejection on her usually unshakable partner's gorgeous face. Her nervous heart had an idea how she could unblock his mind.

Jane was deep in concerned thought, getting nowhere, when Lisbon practically tackled him onto his makeshift cot, covering him with kisses, and wrapping herself around him forcefully. His mind's first reaction was that he needed to focus, with his nemesis taking so many pot shots at his psyche; but the stresses of the past several days had taken their toll on his concentration and on his self-control. Besides, his head had been scrambled ever since realizing his connection to the Torchlite Inn murder victim. Maybe indulging Lisbon would clear the connections in his synapses? Or maybe the risk was too great.

"Lisbon, I don't think…"

"That's right, Patrick… don't think…" Teresa breathed, "just accept it… sink into me now - we both need this. It will clear your mind and my heart all at once."

"But you're too important to me to just- "

"Shh… you're too important to me, too. Too important to keep watching you spiral like this. I promise things between us will be same as always after."

"That's just what I'm afraid of."

She stopped. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want things to be the same," Jane looked into her with those infuriatingly beautiful puppy dog eyes. "Yes, this could clear my worries - at least temporarily, but I don't want to use you to do that. If we go through with this, things will never be the same between us, Teresa. We would be linked in a much more powerful way and I wouldn't be capable of going back to how we were."

"Okay Jane, I'll admit that's true. Are you saying you don't want that?"

He glanced to the side, for an uncharacteristically shy moment. "I actually do want that. Desperately. But not with him still out there, able to get inside my head using tricks." He looked back to Lisbon, pleadingly. "What if he discovers that we're suddenly closer and comes after you? The main reason my mind can't think right now is because I'm petrified that he knows."

"Knows what?"

"How much you mean to me."

"Oh." Lisbon was stunned. How much she meant to him? She had thought she'd been imagining that.

"Teresa, if I lost you, I wouldn't have the strength to…" he broke off, turning away and struggling for control of himself.

"Listen," Lisbon began, harnessing her familiar 'all-business' voice, "we have no proof of what he knows or how he's getting his Information. But there are no cameras in this attic and no one else is here. And we clearly need each other. Let me help you clear your mind, Patrick. What if our 'becoming more powerfully linked' is what becomes his undoing?"

Now that was a thought Patrick Jane had never actually considered: What if the two of them wholly together was what had been missing thus far in the battle with Red John? What if two-against-one was the ratio that unraveled all his evil games? Jane's controls were so weakened after the day they'd had, that the voicing of this new possibility was the final blow to the guarded defenses he kept so carefully in place around his heart.

With a cautiously-optimistic air, the consultant spun back toward his partner. He sauntered toward Lisbon, resting his hands just above her hips… searching her sage eyes with unfiltered adoration.

Teresa took in a deep breath, being caught slightly off-guard by her partner's sudden change of disposition. With great interest, she surveyed the beautiful eyes that were now shimmering mere inches away from her own. Her lips parted slightly in a delighted smile. "Well?"

Jane smiled with a sparkle and shrugged quickly: "Worth a shot," he winked before devouring her in an explosion of kisses.

(A/N: this one-shot is now a multi-chapter, by popular demand :) If you'd rather stop here and keep it as a one-shot, that's totally understandable. BUT if you'd like to follow the story, read on!)